Casters, Girls, and Bounty Heads Episode 10
by Chris Maldonado
Summary: CGBH episode 10


This episode is more or less like "Cowboy Funk" from Cowboy Bebop, I was inspired by that episode so I am acknowledging that right now, I'm not gonna "sample" good writing like some rappers do with good music and call it original, because it's not (Missy Elliot! Double Dutch Bus was just fine, you didn't need to use it! Oh and don't think I don't hear the beat for "Paul Revere" from the Beastie Boys in your song either!). Like I said, this isn't an original idea, but this is my take on it, so please enjoy…

Episode 10: Outlaw funk…

"Meeeoooowwww," Aisha Clan Clan stretched out in her seat aboard the _Outlaw Star_, she yawned again and looked around, "Are we there yet? I'm starving." Aisha Clan Clan belonged to the race of the Ctarl-Ctarl, one of the most powerful races in the universe. They were known for their cat-like features and abilities. They had incredible strength, agility, and the ability to transform into a creature that is a cross between a wolf and a tiger. Ctarl-Ctarl were also known for their impulsive behavior and for a high honor code, and they were a race always ready to take a challenge, especially if it involved a chance for fortune and fame. "Why are we even coming to this planet Morpheus anyways? It seems pretty far out of the way, what's the big deal we could have stopped at a half-dozen other ports by now Gene." Aisha spoke with a rather haughty tone.

"Arrgghhh," Gene Starwind growled, "I know Aisha! If you'd shut up for a minute I can give you an answer!"

"I'm listening," Aisha said, crossing her arms; her left ear twitched slightly, a sign of irritation.

"We're here to make a fortune of course, why else would be coming out this far?" Gene grinned and winked, "There's some guy by the name of Oz Cortez who has a $90 million bounty on his head, Gilliam did some searching and found he was seen around here just a few days ago, it's our best lead."

Aisha's ears perked up at the mention of such a large sum of money, "$90 million! Now that's the kind of fortune I'm talking about! What a feast I can have." Aisha licked her lips at the thought of this.

"Hey! We're splitting the money evenly amongst us all, and it doesn't matter who ends up getting this guy," Gene added this to check Aisha's greed and he also looked over at Suzuka, who made a slight nod to acknowledge his statement, " And we're not gonna split the money until _after_ we take care of some expenses for the ship."

"That's fine with me," Suzuka said.

"NO! I say we vote on it!" Aisha declared.

"I have no problem with this arrangement," Suzuka said.

"I think that's very fair of you Gene," Melfina added from within the navigation capsule.

"And there you have it Aisha, Mel and Suzuka makes two, and me makes three, sounds like you lose." Gene said confidently.

Melfina interrupted Gene's victory with an announcement, "Newton reactors ready for final jump to planet Morpheus in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, all systems green."

"Let's gooooo!" Gene yelled, just before they felt the stunning sensation that space jumps bring.

Meanwhile on the _Viajero Bandido_…

Team Cortez were all busy with one thing or another, or nothing at all. They were all at the top deck on the runway of the ship doing one thing or another. Ryoko was relaxing on a fold out chair, attempting to get a tan. She was wearing a blue two-piece bikini and sunglasses and was listening to "Loverboy" from Mariah Carey. Jim had pulled out Oz's motorcycle and was tuning it up on the runway, near the front of the ship. Meanwhile Ed was fishing; she was sitting on the right side of the ship that protruded outward in wing-like form. It was the part of the ship that held some of the secondary propulsion engines. Ed had picked that spot since it was closest to the fish and she could hang her feet in the cool water. Oz had decided that it was a nice day to wash his jet and do some simple maintenance on it.

"You know this place isn't so bad." Ryoko said to no one in particular.

"Yeah you're right, the weather is actually pretty comfy this time of year here." Oz responded.

"Yeah it is nice, but I think it's a little on the warm side." Jim said as he wiped some sweat from his forehead. Jim stood up and pulled off his shirt to take a dive into the bay. From where he was on the ship he slid down the sloped portion of the nose and right into the water. The water was refreshing and clear. Jim floated around in it for a few minutes and then he became a little bold. He swam over to where Ed was and decided to ask her something, "Hey Ed, you wanna join me in a swim?" Jim asked, trying his best not to blush.

"Hmmm?" Ed looked aloof for a moment, then began to wind up her fishing line and smiled, "Okay!" She placed her pole down and simply dived in with what she was wearing. She ended up behind Jim and they swam together for a few minutes, splashing and laughing all the while.

Oz had nearly finished drying the jet by this time and decided that a swim is something that he would enjoy also. He decided to dive in as well, "Come on Ryoko, the water's fine and so are you!"

Ryoko stood up and looked down at Oz and the others and decided she would join the fun. She teleported down just above the water and lowered herself into it. "This is a nice change of pace." Ryoko said to Oz, she moved over towards him and kissed him.

They all swam for a few hours together, then decided to go back into the ship and enjoy a meal. Oz had finished the jet and moved it under the launch canopy. Jim had finished tuning up the motorcycle and took it down to the lower deck. Ryoko and Ed had cleaned up the remaining items on the runway and went into the ship. Oz had ordered pizzas for everyone and they all ate happily.

As Oz was eating his pizza he made a comment, "This day was pretty nice, and something tells me that tomorrow is going to be interesting too." He went back to munching on the slice he had in his hand.

"In a good or bad way?" Ryoko asked with a mouthful of pizza.

Oz munched thoughtfully, "Not sure," he answered, "But however it ends up, it'll work out."

Jim and Ed looked at each other and shrugged upon hearing this. They both resumed eating and thought nothing of it.

Entering Kabira City airspace…

"This is the Outlaw Star requesting clearance for landing," Gene said.

"Outlaw Star you are clear to land at dock #0053 over." Responded the control tower.

"Thank you," Gene returned. He began slowing the velocity of the ship and preparing the landing gears.

"All systems functioning at optimum levels," Melfina stated.

"Gene, we are ready for landing, I have extended the landing gears and have straightened our decent," Gilliam stated."Thanks Gilliam and Mel." Gene controlled the thrust and lowered the _Outlaw Star_ appropriately on the designated site. "Well, we've landed." He said.

"Finally," Aisha groaned, "Lets get off this ship and get something to eat, I'm starving."

"Yes I think that's a good idea Gene, I am hungry," Melfina added as she came out of the capsule

"Yes, this has been a long trip," Suzuka commented.

"Okay then gang, lets get some grub. And we'll start looking for our treasure tomorrow okay? Gilliam, activate the security system once we leave."

"Affirmative Gene," Gilliam responded.

The crew of the _Outlaw Star_ all left the ship to find some dinner, and tomorrow they would look for Oz Cortez.

Meanwhile…

Hector was cleaning his gun as he was talking to everyone. "Gene Starwind and Oz Cortez are both here in Kabira City. The word from our sources is that they are probably going to cross paths soon, likely sometime tomorrow." Hector began putting together his firearm as he continued. "As you all know, both of these people and their crews have caused us much grief." He finished putting the weapon together and loaded a magazine, "Tomorrow, we will take care of both of them, two birds with one stone." Hector checked the sights to make sure they were accurate.

The next day…

Team Cortez sat aboard the _Viajero Bandido_ enjoying a breakfast of tamales and eggs. Oz had found someone selling tamales and discovered that they were very tasty, so he bought an even dozen for everyone to partake in. They were all enjoying them very much, especially Ed, who had finished her three in just a few bites and gulps.

Oz had finished his breakfast and cleared his plate, "We're going to leave today, but before we do I say we enjoy most of today in the city, whatta you guys think?" Oz already knew the answer that they were going to say.

"Sure, sounds like fun to me," Ryoko said, finishing the last of her tamale.

"Okay!" Ed exclaimed.

"Alright, I like the sound of that," Jim answered. He liked it mainly because it meant he would have a chance to spend some alone time with Ed. He was starting to fall for her and wanted every chance he could get to get himself closer to her. Spending a day in the city was just one of the opportunities he needed. After all, living on a ship wasn't the most private place to spark a love life. Even though the ship was big it was still not an ideal environment for love connection.

Aboard the Outlaw Star…

"We're gonna find Oz Cortez and his crew today and nab him for that bounty." Gene declared at the table as they were all finishing breakfast.

"You know this may prove to be difficult Gene, keep in mind this is one man in an entire city." Suzuka stated.

"Yeah I know Suzuka, but I've already looked into that, actually Gilliam did the searching for me." Gene pointed to the Gilliam unit that was nearby.

"Yes that is correct." Gilliam began, "I did a cross reference search for the name Oz Cortez, bounty hunter, Ryoko, and an image search of Ryoko and Oz Cortez." The Gilliam unit projected the search onto the nearby wall. "The results came very quickly in fact, it seems that Oz Cortez and Ryoko were in the newspaper only two days ago. It seems that they encountered some individuals after them. They made quick work of them and caused damage to the area in the process. I also did further searching and found that they are in the nearby water port that belongs to this very landing port."

Aisha's ears perked up, "Meow!" she exclaimed, "Well then what are we waiting for! Lets go get them and collect our fortune!"

"We'll be doing that Aisha but first you need to hear what else Gilliam found out, especially in regards to this Ryoko girl that follows him around." Gene nodded at Gilliam to continue.

"Thank you Gene, as Gene stated, it is important that you understand how much of a potential threat Ryoko is. She was a former space pirate, but due to statute of limitations, her record was wiped clean and is no longer wanted by the law. A bounty has also been placed on Ryoko, at a price of $10 million by some private citizens. Ryoko is a very powerful person. In fact she is believed to be an immortal."

"Big deal, we Ctarl-Ctarl are immortal." Aisha announced proudly, "And we are also some of the strongest in the universe." She flexed her muscles to illustrate this point.

"Yes Aisha, all that is true, but it is also true for Ryoko, she seems to have extreme strength, immortality, the abilitly of flight and teleportation, a can manipulate energy to be used as weapons."

"Hmmm," Suzuka contemplated this and sipped more of her tea, deciding on an appropriate strategy, should they end up fighting this Ryoko. "It sounds to me that it would be in our best interest to let Aisha and me take care of Ryoko, if need be, otherwise I believe it is well within Gene's capabilities to take on this Oz Cortez."

"Right now that looks to be our best way of approaching this," Gene agreed. "Right now our first order of business is doing some reconnaissance, Aisha, Suzuka, you think you can handle that?"

They both looked at each other, "No problem," Aisha said nonchalantly.

"Of course," Suzuka said. She left the table at the same time with Aisha.

"Be careful you two," Melfina added as they left.

"Don't worry Meflina," Aisha reassured, "Suzzu and I are professionals at this."

"I keep telling you to stop calling me that, why can't you listen?" Suzuka asked irritably.

"Because I like seeing you react to that." Aisha answered simply.

"Those two will always be like that I think," Melfina said smiling.

"Yeah probably, I'm gonna go with them okay Mel? I'd like for you to stay here on the ship." Gene requested as he strapped on his caster and checked to see if his other gun was loaded.

"Please let me come with you Gene, I don't want to stay on the ship worrying about the rest of you." Melfina gave Gene a sad look that he couldn't say no to.

"Okay fine, but you keep your distance the second I tell you to alright?" Gene asked.

"Alright!" Melfina answered with a smile on her face.

Leaving the _Viajero Bandido_…

Oz and the others were getting ready to board the monorail that led into Kabira City. They had all already made plans of what they were going to do in while in Kabira City.

"Their market place has some of the best deals around on everything from clothes to ammunition. That's the place Ryoko and I are heading." Oz said as he had his waist around Ryoko.

"I was thinking I was gonna go a few blocks further and hang out in this arcade Ed told me about, she says it's a really cool place." Jim looked over at Ed as he finished his sentence.

"Jimmy and I are going to go play." She said; to illustrate her point she pantomimed using a joystick.

"I'm sure you are Ed," Oz made an insinuation and winked at Jim, Jim responded by blushing and glaring back.

Suzuka was perched at the top of a flag pole on one of the nearby buildings watching Oz and the rest of them walk down the road towards the station. "I see them," Suzuka spoke into a small communicator to Aisha and Gene.

"Me too," Aisha said, then she noticed something else, "Hey, that other guy that's with them, he looks familiar doesn't he?"

Suzuka looked again, "Now that you mention it yes," Suzuka became interested in who this person was.

"And he sounds familiar too," Aisha, with her very sensitive hearing, honed in on the voice of the young man with the blond pony-tail hair, "That's, that's Jim!" Aisha said excitedly.

"What!" Gene heard this and was caught completely off guard, "What the hell do you mean it's Jim!" Gene hadn't seen Jim in months, he had heard from him every now and again, he told him that he got job working for some bounty hunter and that he was falling for some weird hacker girl, but that was months ago. Jim Hawking had decided that he wanted to be off on his own for a while, and this was two years ago, when Jim turned 16 years old. Neither Gene nor anyone else aboard the _Outlaw Star_ wanted him to leave, but it was his decision, and he felt it was something he needed to do. So they let him. Jim hadn't abandoned them, not at all, he still talked to them, he even managed to visit them a few times. But the last time that he visited was nearly seven moths ago. To find him working with Oz Cortez was something he did not expect in the least.

"Oh Gene, what are we going to do? That's Jim with that Oz person." Melfina said.

"I'm not sure, guess we'll just have to do it when he isn't with Oz and Ryoko." Gene was about to give this order, but their cover was already blown.

"Jim!" Aisha yelled, she pounced from the roof top where she was spying and ran over to Jim, she grabbed him and gave him a big hug and kissed him on the cheek. "How are you! We've missed you."

Jim was not sure how to react, "Ugghhh, fine, wow Aisha, what are you doing here? Are Gene and the others here?"

"Yeah, we're all here, we were in the area and we decided to spend a few days at this port." Aisha went on.

Suzuka sighed and went back to meet with Gene and Melfina, "Aisha has blown our cover, Jim knows we're here, we might as well go meet him, and we'll formulate a new plan later."

"It's all we can do, but things aren't too bad, Oz doesn't know we're after him and now that we know Jim is with them maybe he can give us more info on them, and if anything we can keep track of them easier." Gene said, analyzing the situation.

"And we get to catch up with Jim while we're at it," Melfina added.

"Well I guess we should all go meet him." Gene turned and led the way.

"So Aisha how long have you guys been here?" Jim asked.

"Since last night," she answered. "We need to take you to see the others, they're all gonna love to see you again." Aisha began to pull Jim along and he followed helplessly.

Oz and Ryoko looked at each other and shrugged, "Hey Jim we'll leave you to catch up with your friends, just meet us back at the ship before 9pm, that's when we lift off.

"Umm, okay," He answered as he was being pulled by Aisha.

"Wait Jimmy, can I come with you?" Ed asked.

"Well, yeah sure I don't see why not," Jim looked over at Aisha and she nodded at this, Jim looked back and answered Ed with a nod also.

"So Jim, who's this girl huh?" Aisha teased.

"She's a friend," He blushed as he answered.

"You haven't changed that much," Aisha grinned as she told him that.

The rest of the crew turned the corner and saw Jim with Aisha and one other person, a girl with short red hair and short shorts. "Hey Jim, long time no see!" Gene waved as well as Melfina and Suzuka.

"Hey guys! Wow! It's great to see you!" Jim ran over to them and hugged Melfina and Suzuka and gave Gene a firm and vigorous handshake. They all crowded around him and asked him all sorts of different questions.

"So who is this little lady you're with Jim," Gene inquired.

"Oh, well this is Ed, she's my…uh…friend," Jim answered.

"Hello!" Ed waved enthusiastically at them all.

"Well aren't you a cutie," Aisha winked at Ed, "Jim's a really good guy as I'm sure you've already learned."

Ed blushed slightly and smiled, "Yeah, Jimmy is good guy."

"What are we standing around here for, why don't we head back to ship and catch up? I can make us all some lunch," Melfina's suggestion was agreed upon unanimously and they all returned to the _Outlaw Star_.

When they returned they talked more and enjoyed a special stew Melfina had made, it was hearty and had a variety of vegetables and large quantity of meat. Jim and Ed enjoyed it very much.

"Why Jim!" Gilliam exclaimed, "It is so good to see you again, it just hasn't been the same without you here." Gilliam's comment was agreed upon by the rest of the crew.

"So Jim," Gene began, "Why don't you tell us about this new crew you're a part of?"

"Well, his name is Oz Cortez, and he has a girlfriend named Ryoko, they're both really cool people once you get to know them. In fact, Ryoko is the reason I'm part of the crew, she convinced Oz that they could use a mechanic and electronics expert, I joined the crew months ago and have been with them ever since."

"So how's that been for you?" Melfina wondered.

"It's been good, things have been getting pretty crazy lately, Oz seems to have a few enemies and they put this huge bounty on his head, so that's something we've had to deal with for last few weeks." Jim went on to talk about the different bounty hunters Oz had come across and how they had all been beaten in one way or another.

"Wow, sounds like a tough bunch," Gene commented.

"Well they can hold their own that's for sure," Jim answered; Ed nodded when he said this.

"Oz and Ryoko are very tough," Ed added.

"Well, now that we've eaten and caught, what say we go to Kabira City and enjoy the rest of the day before Jim has to leave again," Gene suggested.

"That's a great idea Gene," Melfina commented.

Kabira City…

They were all at the market place enjoying the sights and sounds and smells of the bizarre. While they were enjoying the sights Gene had come up with a plan to catch Oz and Ryoko. Gene had decided that he would still go forward with the bounty hunt, and that Melfina would keep Jim and Ed from the trouble, while he, Suzuka, and Aisha would go after Oz and Ryoko. The plan was set in motion when Melfina asked for Jim and Ed to come with her to go clothes shopping and Gene and the rest suddenly "disappeared."

"What do you think about this outfit?" Melfina was posed displaying a blouse with a pair of jeans cut at the knees. She also had her hair put back with a green bandana.

"Nice, it has this retro feel to it." Jim said.

"Do you like this Jimmy?" Ed posed also, she had tried on a pair of tight jeans with a studded belt and cut off sleeve shirt that was black and red. She had also found a pair of matching red sunglasses.

"Wow, very nice Ed." Jim couldn't help but notice the shirt was cut off at the mid-riff. He blushed when Ed winked at him and twirled back into the dressing room.

"I think she likes Jim," Melfina grinned.

"You think so," He asked.

"Mmm-hmmm" Melfina nodded.

Melfina was going to say something else but stopped when Ed came in with a new outfit, this one made her look like a sexy mad scientist. She had on her special goggles and was wearing beige cargo pants, the type that can turn into shorts, with large suspenders and a white half-cut short sleeve shirt with and oversized pair of beige gloves, the shirt had a large radioactive sign on the front of it. She also had a leather pouch that strapped onto her right arm that had a high voltage warning stamped on it. The pants had several large pockets and looked to have built in loops for tools, and the suspenders did as well. "How about this Jimmy?" Ed had a wide smile on her face as she asked, waiting for his input.

Jim looked at that outfit and found it to be the best thing she had put on, "Oh damn," Jim muttered in awe, then realizing what he had just said, corrected himself, "I mean umm, wow, that looks great, you need to buy that." Jim thought that this outfit was perfect for her.

"Hmmmm," Ed looked at herself in the mirror behind her, "Edward likes this, Ed will buy," She turned to grab her other shorts and pull out some money.

"No," Jim said as he saw her reach for her wallet, "Allow me, and I'll pay for that matching pack too," Jim pointed to a simple military-looking back-pack.

Ed looked at Jim and grinned. She walked over to him and gave him a hug, "Thank you Jimmy," she said, and then pecked him on the cheek. She said nothing else and walked away to gather the rest of her things.

"Oh yeah, I think she likes you Jim," Melfina winked at Jim and he could do nothing but blush and look away with a big smile on his face.

After they paid for the clothes they decided to go on to another place and see what else there was to do. As they left the store a large explosion occurred down the street. Jim turned to see what had happened and noticed something about the explosion, "That's a caster," he mumbled, "Gene!" He began to run towards it.

"What if it's Oz!" Ed began to run closely behind him, Melfina followed suite.

As Jim was running he was wondering who it could be, he immediately thought it would be Gene, but thinking again, it could just as easily be Oz, they both had a knack for getting into trouble. Then another thought ran through his head, what if it was both of them?

Just before the explosion…

Oz and Ryoko were walking down the street observing all the different items for sale. For the most part nothing had caught Oz's eye, it was all fairly run of the mill to him. Then he noticed a man who had a glass case that displayed caster shells. He quickly walked over to it and looked at his selection. "I'll take a #5, a #7, and #1," The man picked out the shells Oz asked for and Oz paid the cash for the shells. Even though they were not highly powerful shells, they each cost $70, this being because caster shells were very scarce, and difficult to manufacture. Through the corner of his eye Oz noticed a red-haired man in a cape and black shirt and pants walking towards him. He looked ready to start trouble, so Oz grabbed a caster grenade that he had on him and loaded the #5 shell he just purchased.

Gene Starwind walked up towards Oz Cortez and pulled out his caster and pointed it at Oz's head, "Oz Cortez, I'm here to take you in and collect on that nice bounty that's on your head." Gene had a grin on his face as he pointed the caster, knowing that Oz didn't have the time to pull out his casters.

"Sorry but that's not gonna happen pal," Oz pushed the button on the caster grenade and dropped it in front of Gene.

Gene looked down and saw what it was, "Caster grenade!" He yelled, "Everyone get down!" Gene grabbed the grenade and tossed it to Aisha, whom quickly hurled it into the air. As it detonated Gene fired his caster at it to cancel out the explosion.

The chase is on…

Gene quickly recovered from what had just happened, "Suzuka, Aisha, move in!"

"It never fails," Ryoko said as she flew low to the ground beside Oz, "We start enjoying ourselves and someone comes after you for something.

Oz was sprinting along side Ryoko and yelled at her, "This is no time to play the blame game!" As he ran he noticed a wide empty lot, there was some kind of construction going on there but no one was working on this particular day, "We'll take care of them over there." Oz and Ryoko both headed into the construction site.

Suzuka and Aisha were both on the roofs of the buildings, they each leapt in a criss-cross pattern from roof to roof. They were the first to reach Oz and Ryoko, but Gene was close behind. Suzuka looked at Aisha, "I'll take care of Ryoko, you can deal with Oz." Suzuka readied her sword and ran towards Ryoko.

"You want sword play huh?" Ryoko materialized a beam sword in her right hand and moved towards Suzuka. They quickly clashed blades and jumped back to recover. Ryoko and Suzuka made several swipes at each other but matched one another swing for swing. Ryoko began to taunt, "Look I'm getting tired of this sparring, how about we get serious?" With that she began swinging even more furiously but Suzuka still matched her. Flashes of energy bounced outwards in various directions. As Ryoko was about to make a downward swipe Suzuka moved her blade upwards to hit Ryoko's open spot, but as she did so Ryoko dematerialized and rematerialized behind Suzuka. She was about slice at her backside when Suzuka caught the blade by putting her own behind her. Suzuka jumped vertically and came down on Ryoko, who stopped Suzuka in mid air with her beam sword. Suzuka was using her blade to precariously balance on Ryoko's then she used it as a spring board to jump away.

Suzuka knew that Ryoko was going to be a difficult opponent, but it still intrigued her to see Ryoko in action. "It seems that you have actually forced me to use one of my special techniques," Suzuka took a stance and ran gracefully towards Ryoko.

"That's nice but I really don't care what you do ,it won't finish me off." Ryoko flew towards Suzuka.

"Flying Swallow Variant #1" Suzuka whispered and took a clean swipe at Ryoko's mid riff.

Ryoko had dematerialized but was surprised when a surge of pain ran through her body, she grit her teeth and turned to face Suzuka, "Well that was interesting little trick you've got there."

"I must say you are one of the more challenging individuals I have come across," although she showed little emotion she was beginning to become concerned at how challenging Ryoko was. Her first special technique had done nothing more than irritate her, any other person would have died before they hit the ground.

As this was going on Aisha and Oz were beginning to fight, "Well Oz Cortez, soon this will be all over and that bounty will be mine," Aisha gave a toothy grin and her muscles began to grow and become defined. She ran towards him a few feet and leapt into the air.

Oz saw this and drew his caster, "Down kitty!" Oz said as he pulled the trigger.

"YYYYAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!" Aisha screamed as she flew back several feet and slammed onto the ground.

"You're mine Oz," Gene yelled.

"Right," Oz said as he aimed the caster at Gene and pulled the trigger once again. Oz had already loaded his caster again and fired in response, canceling out Oz's shot.

Jim, Ed, and Melfina all ran towards the sounds of the explosions and found that Gene, Aisha and Suzuka were engaged in battle with Oz and Ryoko.

Jim saw this and was stunned, "Gene, Oz, what the hell are you two doing!"

They had both resorted to using regular guns, since neither wanted to waste anymore caster shells, at least for the time being. They stopped shooting and looked at Jim, "Stay out of this Jim!" they yelled in unison. Quickly they resumed shooting at each other again.

Jim didn't know what else to do, Ed and Melfina were having the same problem. They could do nothing more than simple watch and yell at them to stop.

Aisha quickly recovered from the caster shot, it was a lower number, so it didn't affect her as much as any other shell would have. She saw that Gene had taken her place against Oz, but when she looked over at Suzuka she noticed that she seemed to be having a tough time. She shot up and roared, "Ryoko you're mine!" Her muscles flexed once again and Aisha's fangs began to show again. In two big leaps she was next to Ryoko, she took a swing and Ryoko caught it.

Ryoko caught the swing from Aisha and then used her other hand to grab the rest of Aisha's arm and hurled her into Suzuka. Suzuka jumped out of her way and used another technique that fired a wave of energy from her sword in a straight line towards Ryoko. Ryoko fired a blast of energy and stopped it from going further. Aisha was back on her feet and managed to punch Ryoko in the face and stomach, then kick her in her jaw. Ryoko rolled with the hit and returned with an uppercut and a strong, swift knee into the stomach. While Aisha was bent over she elbowed her spine. Suzuka came in with a downward swipe, which Ryoko caught with her palms. "Enough with the sword!" She focused her energy and sent the sword flying in the air. Suzuka quickly dodged Ryoko's swings and flipped backwards towards her sword which had impaled itself into the ground. Ryoko looked behind her and found Aisha squeezing her tightly. Ryoko teleported out of that and spun around with a roundhouse kick to the face. Aisha kicked and Ryoko blocked, then Ryoko punched and Aisha blocked, and this went on for several seconds. Ryoko then turned the tables by dematerializing and rematerializing all around Aisha, taking swings and kicks all the while. Amazingly Aisha managed to block a large number of them.

Gene and Oz had resorted now to close combat. Both were skilled fighters and matched each other in several ways. The were now both on the ground taking swings at each other. Somehow they managed to stand up and they head-butted each other. As they both jumped back from that they pulled their caster on each other. They both were aiming for the head and at the moment had a stalemate. They each believed that they could change that by pulling out their other gun. Oz pulled out his second caster and Gene pulled out his handgun.

Oz glanced down at Gene's gun and grinned, "Looks like I got you beat," Oz said.

"Doubtful, you forget I have a light shield, it can handle a caster shot." Gene responded.

"No light shield can handle two caster shots at once," Oz said.

"And no human being without a light shield can survive a caster shot to the head and gunshot to the stomach." Gene retorted.

"Got me there." Oz conceded.

Neither had budged and simply grinned at each other, they knew that they were matched. And now they had a stalemate.

Meanwhile…

Hector looked at the scene before and knew the time was right, "Okay boys, lets move in." With that gunfire came out of nowhere and fired at the clashing bounty hunters. By this time Jim, Ed, and Melfina had entered the construction site also, and they two were being shot at. Ed did summersaults and barrel roles to dodge the bullets and leap for cover. Jim grabbed Meflina and led her to cover.

As they all leaned against the half built wall Jim yelled out loud, "Who's doing the shooting!"

"I don't know!" Melfina answered.

Gene and Oz wasted no time in taking cover and reassessing the situation. Ryoko, Suzuka and Aisha did like wise. They both looked around and immediately knew who the shooters were, "Wild Cards," They both said. Oz and Gene glanced at each other, "Guess I'm not the only one on their hate list," Oz said. Gene and Oz both ran out of their cover and fired at the shooters. With their casters they took out only a few, it seems that they had come prepared for such a situation, they all had shields.

Ryoko and Suzuka both ran towards the shooters, blocking and dodging bullets along the way. They reached them and began finishing them off one by own. Ryoko teleported from person to person, and Suzuka ran threw them as if she were brushing away tree limbs. Aisha took on the shooters on the roofs and made quick work of them. Somehow amidst the chaos they all managed to meet in one area. Oz and Gene ran into each other and once again drew their firearms at the same time, but put them down when they realized who the other one was.

Jim decided to take this time to try peace talks, "Look, I know Oz is worth a lot of money, but he's a friend of mine, and right now, the people who are trying to kill us are the same guys who put the bounty on his head." Ed and Ryoko nodded in consensus.

"Well if that's true then it sounds safe to say they wouldn't have paid us anyway." Gene said, he didn't dispute what Jim said, he trusted him.

"What!" Aisha yelled, "You mean we went through all this for nothing!" She began to growl and clenched her fists.

"Well guys and gals we need to show theses guys whose boss and get the hell outta here." Gene announced.

"Jim say your goodbyes now, no matter what are goal now is to get back to ship and launch." Oz ordered.

"Okay" Jim nodded, they all said informal and hasty goodbyes and split up. The crew of the _Outlaw Star _and the _Viajero Bandido_ went their own ways.

They hadn't taken care of all of the shooters, but enough to get away. As Team Cortez reached the ship they arrived in time to see several police cars waiting for them.

Oz looked at Ryoko, "Ryoko, get us to the ship door."

"No prob, everyone hold on to me." She ordered. They did so and they were all teleported to the entrance hatch of the ship.

"Oz Cortez, Ryoko, Jim Hawking and Radical Edward, put your hands up." All the police had their guns drawn. They didn't know what else to do and complied.

"I'll get them," Ryoko said, and as she was about to fly down Oz grabbed her.

"Don't Ryoko, we're in enough trouble." Oz warned. Ryoko said nothing and stayed.

As they were all awaiting to be handcuffed a police car exploded. They turned to see that the Wild Cards begin engaging in a firefight with the police. "Their ours $$holes!" One of the Wild Cards yelled. The cops responded by returning fire.

"In the ship now!" Oz yelled. As they ran in gun shots ricocheted off the door.

"Hold it right there!" Yelled Wild Cards and police alike.

The crew all ran down to the control room, but before they even got there Oz pulled out his tech-brick and switched it on, "Via con Dios, Go baby go!" He yelled into the tech-brick. Suddenly the ship rumbled to life. The words he yelled activated an emergency launch command that started the ship. By the time they reached the control room the ship was already pulling out into the middle of the bay for launch.

"_Viajero Bandido_, you are not cleared for launch, you are ordered to remain in the bay." A control tower operator directed.

"Sorry can't do that control, we're takin' off," Oz began activating the other necessary systems.

"I'm sorry, that's a negative." The operator said, as he said this the navigation system went blank.

"They cut off their guidance system from us." Oz said.

"How the hell are we gonna launch!" Ryoko demanded.

Oz looked at Ed, "Ed make it happen, you've got 15 seconds."

"Roger!" Ed sat down and feverishly began punching keys on her laptop. A number of beeps and clicks were heard and then a ding. "All systems are go," Ed announced.

The screen returned and they began to accelerate, "Thank you Ed," Oz yelled. The ship began to lift out of the water and soon achieved escape velocity. The ship finally reached orbit and Oz began the Newton Reactor. "Preparing for jump, Newton Reactor online, jump engines are ready in 10 seconds." Oz announced to no on in particular.

"Where are we going?" Jim asked.

"I have no idea, we'll see what's closest to us when our jump ends," Oz answered.

Jim sighed, "Oh brother," He mumbled.

"Okay here we go," Oz said. Everything went white, then a blur as they jumped to the speed of light.

Just roll with the punches guys…

To be continued…


End file.
